GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE HISTORIQUE #3 : THE SUNDAY MOOVIE
The fathers at the party Benefiting from a complete TV coverage by AUTOMOTO La Chaîne, the second day of races of the French Historic GP offered beautiful moments of emotion to the thousands of spectators gathered on the Castellet circuit. See you in 2023 for the continuation!
A SUNDAY OF RACES
BOSS GP: Two winners for one race
The BOSS GP is obviously on the bill this Sunday for a second confrontation between former F1, GP2 and other high level single-seaters from the early 2000s. From the start, Ingo Gerstl put the Cosworth V10 of his Toro Rosso STR1 F1 car to the test in an attempt to outrun the Benetton B197 F1 of Ulf Ehninger and the Jaguar R2 F1 of Frenchman Didier Sirgue. The three Formula 1s shared the lead, but Haralds Slegelmilhs soon slid his World Series Dallara between them. However, according to the rules of the BOSS GP, the arrival of the F1 cars is judged after 20 minutes, instead of 25 minutes for the other single-seaters. At this point, Ingo Gerstl repeated his success of the day before. Five minutes later, it was Haralds Slegelmilhs' turn with a solid lead over the Dallara GP2 of Zdenek Chonanec Lopez and Simone Colombo. A great achievement for Alain Girardet, who is ranked sixth a big hour after winning the F3 race!
The top 5 : F1 : 1.Gerstl (Toro Rosso STR1), 2.Ehninger (Benetton B197), Sirgue (Jaguar R2). Autres : 1.Slegelmilhs (Dallara WS), 2.Chovanec Lopez (Dallara GP2), 3.Colombo (Dallara GP2), 4.Faggionato (Dallara GP2), 5.Malavasi (Dallara GP2).
Historic F1, legends of the '70s: D'Aubreby doubles the stake
On Sunday morning, our "legends of the Seventies" took to the track again with a dozen F1 cars capable of reviving some very fond memories. Forced to retire on Saturday, Soheil Ayari was back in the race with his 1983 Ligier, but fate got the better of him after just one lap. At the front, Patrick D'Aubreby showed the same authority as the day before at the wheel of his March 761 and gradually distanced himself from Guillaume Roman, who was soon overtaken by another Ensign: that of Laurent Fort, the poleman but who had to withdraw from race 1. At the end of the 11 laps, Patrick D'Aubreby reached the finish line with a 25''9 lead over Laurent Fort, while Guillaume Roman got rid of Australian Martin Bullock in the last minute to take third place.
The top 5 : 1.D’Aubreby (March 761), 2.Fort (Ensign MN180), 3.Roman (Ensign MN175), 4.Bullock (Williams FW06), 5.Rivet (March 811).
HSCC F2 pre 1979 : Kaufmann takes his revenge
Always as attractive and exciting to watch, the pre-1979 F2s have the honor to close the program of this GP de France Historique. Already fighting the day before and armed with an identical March 782 (from 1978), Matthew Wrigley and Wolfgang Kaufmann resume their explanation as soon as the race 2 starts. The two men exchanged positions several times before the halfway point, which the German driver passed in the lead. Behind him and his British challenger, Fabrice Lheritier, third since the first lap, finally gave in to Laurent Vallery-Masson's attacks. With the positions now firmly established, the race ended with this hierarchy, Wolfgang Kaufmann taking his revenge from the previous day with less than three seconds of advance on Matthew Wrigley. In fifth place, Robert Simac was once again the best performing F2 driver with a 1600 engine.
The top 5 : 1.Kaufmann (March 782), 2.Wrigley (March 782), 3.Vallery-Masson (March 77B), 4.Lheritier (March 752), 5.Simac (March 712).
F3 and Formula Renault Classic Trophy: Girardet's time
In the early afternoon, it was time for a rematch for the F3 and Formula Renault Classic drivers, especially for Fred Rouvier, Davide and Valerio Leone, all of whom were forced to retire on Saturday. From the start, Davide Leone put this observation into practice by emerging from the back of the grid to take the lead after only two laps! The Race Direction didn't think this was a good start and immediately gave him a Drive Through. From then on, it was Alain Girardet who had the privilege of leading the debates ahead of Frédéric Lajoux and Eric Martin. The second one increases his pressure in view of the arrival, but... disappears in the last lap, in prey to serious problems of box! Freed from this ultimate threat, the Swiss Alain Girardet takes the victory in front of Eric Martin and Eric Rouvier author of a solid recovery. Seventh, Lionel Robert doubled the lead in Formula Renault ahead of Christian Vaglio-Giors.
The top 5 : 1.Girardet (Ralt RT3), 2.Martin (Martini MK39), 3.Rouvier (Martini MK42), 4.V.Leone (March 783), Jackson (Chevron B43).
Formula Ford 1600: Double Dousse
Historical fashion or not, Formula Ford races continue to stage formidable battles. Like the previous day's race, the Sunday morning race remained undecided until the last corner. At the head of a pack of 40 single-seaters, Mathieu Midy, who was narrowly beaten on Saturday, managed to reach the finish line as the winner at the head of a group of five breakaways. Laurent Waisler, Arnaud Dousse, Xavier Michel and Gislain Genecand, ranked in that order behind him, finished in the same second. That's to say that the battle raged between them! But there was a thunderclap at the finish: for having taken too many liberties with the "race route", Mathieu Midy and Laurent Waisler were given a 30" penalty, thus abandoning the victory to Arnaud Dousse, who had already won the day before. After Eric Hélary yesterday, it was Soheil Ayari's turn to be forced to retire because of a faulty engine.
The top 5 : 1.Dousse (Van Diemen RF91), 2.Michel (Van Diemen RF92), 3.Genecand (Van Diemen RF92), 4.Vaglio-Giors (Van Diemen RF90), 5.Sanjuan (Van Diemen RF91).
100 km of the GP de France Historique : Corvette "bis
The same protagonists as the day before were again present for this second 45-minute race, which was interrupted by a compulsory pit stop. With his powerful Corvette Z6R, Olivier Morihain was once again the man who set the pace from the very first laps. At the time of the first stops, Fabio Spirgi (Porsche 964 turbo) and Jean-Michel Villot (Osella PA8) followed him. After any driver changes, the three men were back in the same order ten minutes later. Olivier Morihain still untouchable, the end of the race is mainly animated by the efforts of the Osella driver to distance his Swiss opponent. Aboard their Lucchini proto, the Mathez father and son finished at the foot of the podium.
The top 5 : 1.Morihain (Chevrolet Corvette Z6R), 2.Villot (Osella PA8), 3.Spirgi (Porsche 964 turbo), 4.Mathez/Mathez (Lucchini P3), 4.Vulliez (Bogani Alfa).
THEY SAID
René Arnoux (guest of the GPFH for the 40th anniversary of his victory in the French F1 GP): "In my opinion, old racing cars have nothing to do in garages, they should be on the track at such events. This one is great, moreover organized on a very beautiful circuit. We can only be happy about it in the current context".
Tom Pagès (FMX champion, beginner in car racing on circuit): "I didn't know that historical races were so popular. As for me, I had never driven such a prototype, nor even once in a car on a circuit! So I had to learn a lot in a short time. It's very different from what I know, but it's still in the environment I like".
Eric Hélary (back in Formula Ford 34 years after his French championship title): "Unfortunately, the experience was shortened by an engine heating problem. I didn't have the time to try to perform well, but I still had a lot of fun".
Jean-Claude Andruet (invited to take the wheel of one of his former factory Alpine A110s): "When you arrive at a circuit to take the wheel, you always feel so much emotion and vibrations. Our cars remind us of the exceptional period of freedom we lived through".
THE CONTINUATION
The French F1 Grand Prix, from July 22 to 24, 2022.
Find all the results and the live of the races on www.hvmracing.fr
Media contact: presse@hvmracing.fr
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